Media and Disability Interest Group
A Sign of Difference: Constructions of Hearing Loss and Deafness on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation • Katherine Foss, University of Minnesota • This study looks at how CSI: Crime Scene Investigation portrays hearing loss and deafness through its main character, CSI Gil Grissom’s experience with otosclerosis, as well as other representations of deaf or hard of hearing people. Findings indicate that CSI suggests hearing loss to be isolating and career damaging. This show offers conflicting portrayals of deafness, presenting deafness as both a disability and a characteristic of the Deaf community.
Is a Woman Still a Woman? A Preliminary Exploration of Media Images of Mastectomy • Nicole Smith, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Breast cancer is a serious threat to the health of women, accounting for nearly 1 in 3 cancer diagnoses in women in the United States. In many cases, women with breast cancer are left with only one alternative: mastectomy. If woman is defined by the physical female body-breasts-is that woman still a woman if her breasts are destroyed?